‘It freaked me out’; Neighbors react after suspect who held fast food workers at gunpoint stays on the run

COLONIAL HEIGHTS, Va. (WRIC) — One person is on the run in Colonial Heights after they held two fast food workers at gunpoint on Tuesday.

Police there are asking for the public’s help in locating a suspect who held two fast food workers at gunpoint on Tuesday, July 30.

The robbery happened at 4 a.m. at the McDonald’s fast food restaurant near the intersection of Boulevard and East Westover Avenue. The building was surrounded by police who were responding to the scene for a reported robbery.

Some residents say that they don’t want to let this bizarre incident shake them.

Other neighbors living close to the McDonalds on Boulevard sounded off about how they feel about living so close to the scene of the crime.

“It freaked me out. I was like.. the McDonald’s is like right there. You know, I mean, I’m living just over here, and I mean, it could very easily happened right here,” one neighbor said.

8News spoke to one neighbor who didn’t wish to appear on camera or be identified; but says they didn’t hear about the robbery until a few hours after it had already happened. He says that when he woke up for work that morning he knew something was wrong.

“I have my night blindness, I thought somebody got pulled over down there and then the closer we got to the stoplight down there, I noticed that there was a bunch of cops in the middle of the McDonald’s parking lot,” the neighbor said.

Colonial Heights investigators say a masked person entered the restaurant and threatened two staff members at gunpoint. The act of violence is something that this neighbor who has lived in the area for decades says he has never seen happened.

“It makes me feel very uncomfortable. I feel very uncomfortable to be totally honest about it, because we’ve never had any sign let that happen around here. And it just makes me wonder what the future holds,” she said.

According to police, the gunman forced the workers to the floor before making off with an unknown amount of cash.

Before Tuesday, residents in the neighborhood behind the McDonald’s say that the biggest concern around their area was speeding — but what happened just up the street makes them contemplate the future.

“I feel secure. I mean, I’ve got stuff in the house to make me feel secure, but I’m out here all the time. It makes me kind of wonder what’s going to happen,” one resident said.

“There’s probably some punks trying to get away and trying to get money or whatever. And while they I hope they get caught,” another resident said.

8News is working to learn whether Colonial Heights Police consider this suspect armed and dangerous.

Authorities want anyone who may have been in the area at the time of the incident or recognizes the suspect pictured to call them immediately. Stay with 8News on air and online for the latest on this story.

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